C2 @ St. Paul

Top 5 Team Predictions:
1. #3 David City (10)
2. #6 Logan View (9)
3. Battle Creek (6)
4. Twin River (5)
5. St. Paul (4)

Other Teams Competing:
Columbus Scotus
Doniphan-Trumbull
Gibbon
GICC
Johnson County
Lincoln Christian
Louisville
Lutheran High NE
North Bend Central
Shelby-Rising City
SCNU #5

Not much separates David City and Logan View and we should be in for a great team race in the C2 District. Logan View has a few question marks in their lineup so we’ll see how those pan out leading into the district tournament. These are two teams that could meet at the state duals the week prior to districts. The state dual wildcard points also show Battle Creek making it through to state duals. Those totals won’t be final until after competition on Saturday. Battle Creek has made some late season weight drops in several areas that seem to have greatly benefited their team. Twin River beat Battle Creek in dual earlier this season so they should be able to make a push for third in the district, especially if they move some of their contenders into the top four. They also pushed a slightly shorthanded Logan View team within 17 points at Madison last weekend. Momentum is a huge thing in the sport of wrestling and Twin River certainly has that on their side right now. Host team St. Paul rounds out the top five in the district. Like Twin River, they have some potential qualifiers right on the edge that could help push them to a higher finish if they break through.

Looking at the individual weights, 132 jumps out with five ranked wrestlers due to some recent weight drops. 160 and 195 have three ranked wrestlers. 220 should be a great weight as well, with four medal caliber wrestlers competing. Overall there are 24 ranked wrestlers competing in the district.

UPDATE: We got a first hand look at David City and Logan View as they went head to head for third place. David City emerged as the winner in that dual which points to them winning this district as well. C2 now has 28 wrestlers ranked in the top eight.

Update Class C Rankings

Please send any suggestions, updates or corrections to dru.kastler@gmail.com, KastlerDA on Twitter, or simply comment on this post. We will update these predictions the week of districts to include the next few weeks of competition. Records were pulled from Trackwrestling and may not be 100% accurate, but for the most part should be current as of 2/10.

106:
Not too much that separates the top three guys at this weight. Johnson has really started to trend up lately, avenging an earlier season loss. He and McGee were both at the same tournament last weekend, but didn’t meet up. Bongers record is a little deceptive as David City’s schedule difficulty rivals any team in Class C. The battle for the fourth spot looks to be between returning qualifier Busse and Hassler. Looks like Hassler does have a win over Duba from Friend who has beaten Busse. That is a match that will likely occur in the 4/5 quarterfinal. Hassler is also coming off of his first tournament title of the season. Johnson beat Hassler in OT in their only meeting of the season.

UPDATE: Bongers beat McGee at state duals so those two are now flipped around.

1. #8 Zach Bongers (David City) 26-13
2. #8 Jacob McGee (Logan View) 29-4
3. Ashton Johnson (Twin River) 31-15
4. Jaxson Hassler (Battle Creek) 25-19

Nick Busse (St. Paul) 24-18

113:
Returning qualifier Escandon is down to 113 where he could be the favorite. The biggest question mark here is the status of Hernandez of Logan View. He has been ranked as high as #3 this season, but has had a few puzzling losses and did not wrestle last weekend. He was tied with #2 Schluckebier in the third period in their first meeting this season so he has the potential to win the district. If he’s not able to go, his teammate Ryder Keenan is capable of making the trip to Omaha as well. Sack of St. Paul has a head to head win over Strain. Just going off of score comparison, but it looks like Schindler of David City has the slight edge over Sack for the the third spot.

UPDATE: Hernandez not competing at this weight for Logan View anymore. Ryder Keenan should be able to make the trip here for the Raiders however. Strain was up at 126 this past weekend.

1. Jose Escandon (Gibbon) 31-9
2. Simon Schindler (David City) 26-18
3. Ryder Keenan (Logan View) 24-17
4. Owen Sack (St. Paul) 29-14

Isaac Wegrzyn (Lincoln Christian) 21-15

120:
King dropped from 126 and shook the rankings up with his major decision win over returning medalist Mueller. Mueller has since beaten #5 Ruffner so the weight as a whole in Class C is becoming a bit unpredictable. Hudson just made the drop to 120 and should be a pretty good bet to make it through. Freshman Kaleb Baker of St. Paul has been solid this year. He was right in the match with #4 Ancheta last week before being pinned late. Qualifer Brodrick should be in the thick of things here as well.

UPDATE: No changes here. Five tough wrestlers going for four qualifying spots.

1. #7 Carter King (Battle Creek) 25-9
2. #8 Dru Mueller (Logan View) 35-8
3. Brock Hudson (Louisville) 23-13
4. Kaleb Baker (St. Paul) 31-11

John Brodrick (SCNU#5) 26-11
Damian Harper (Gibbon) 23-11

126:
Returning state champion from this weight Daniel Escandon leads the pack. He has a head to head win over 2018 medalist Belville. Belville has a head to head win over Davalos from Twin River. Davalos has head to head wins over fellow returning qualifiers Maschmeier and Reeves. Wegrzyn from Lincoln Christian just made the drop to 126 and if he’s on the right side of the bracket should have a chance of making the finals. Still expecting returning qualifier Valencia to get on the mat this year, and if he’s healthy when he does, that will definitely shake things up a bit.

UPDATE: Valencia wrestled at the state duals and went 2-1. He notched a good win bumping up to 132 so it appears as if he’s healthy enough to qualify at this weight. Belville beat Escandon two weeks ago, but lost 7-2 this week. Wegrzyn had a ranked win over Patak from Wilber-Clatonia. Strain from Twin River appears to be up here from 113.

1. #3 Daniel Escandon (Gibbon) 27-3
2. #7 Drake Belville (Doniphan-Trumbull) 35-9
3. Eli Wegrzyn (Lincoln Christian) 29-11
4. Martin Valencia (Logan View) 2-1

Jackson Strain (Twin River) 25-16
Landyn Maschmeier (Scotus) 20-12
Boston Reeves (Battle Creek) 29-19
Tobey Turman (SCNU#5) 11-5

132:
It will be shocking if all five of the ranked wrestlers that are now at this weight all wrestle here at districts. If they do, someone very good will be staying home. It’s also tough to predict as Eggleston and Lade have just one tournament each down at 32. Lade actually has a common opponent over McNulty by way of his win over Gabe Escalante. Eggleston beat Lade by major decision this past weekend. Taylor of Scotus beat Harris from David City in a close match at the Norm Manstedt Invite and has multiple common opponentes over Fjell. Harris beat Fjell by fall. Kocian beat Zoucha by fall. Looking at lineups, Harris and Lade appear the least likely to move up a weight. Best weight to watch in C2.

UPDATE: McNulty moving up to 138 opens up a spot for Harris. Harris had a ranked win over Williams from Conestoga, but has also had a setback to unranked Lokken. He’s probably the biggest wildcard as he could win the district, or finish 4th. Fjell has been wrestling at 138 where he should have a pretty good shot at qualifying.

1. #5 Caleb Eggleston (Johnson County) 33-6
2. #6 Owen Lade (Battle Creek) 35-5
3. #8 Nick Taylor (Scotus) 23-5
4. Clayton Harris (David City) 31-9

Beau Zoucha (Twin River) 33-18
Kaden Kocian (St. Paul) 20-14

138:
138 is just as hard to make sense of as 132. There is no real clear cut title contender. Barlean can really hang with some of the better wrestlers in the state, but has a few interesting losses mixed in there. He lost head to head to Fjell who is at 132 now. Not much at 138 to go on with Battershaw, as he started the year wrestling 152 and is now all the way down to 38. He did pick up a win over projected 145 qualifier Tenski so we’ll have him at the second spot for now. Booth beat Nelson 4-2 on opening weekend at 145. It’s worth noting that Taylor (at 132 now) beat Booth by fall in December. Totally wide open weight compared to 132.

UPDATE: McNulty should jump to top seed at 138 here. He beat Barlean at state duals 10-4. Adding Fjell to this mix makes things interesting as he’s beaten Barlean, but lost to Booth. McNulty beat Booth 7-4. Booth’s teammate Zoucha was up at this weight this past weekend, but we’ll assume that was just for the one week.

1. #2 Hunter McNulty (Logan View) 32-6
2. #8 Zack Barlean (David City) 21-16
3. Korbyn Battershaw (Battle Creek) 35-15
4. Isaac Booth (Twin River) 20-14

Carter Fjell (Shelby-Rising City) 28-13
Skyler Nelson (St. Paul) 21-11

145:
Valentine has been a mainstay in the rankings at 145 this season and enters as the favorite. Things get more difficult pretty quick from that point. Valentine beat perhaps the top challenger Belt at his home invite this past weekend. Belt and Tenski have traded common opponents. Tenski is coming off of a weekend with two ranked wins and nearly upset #2 Lampman. Lampman beat Thompson 15-2, but style matchups can often be misleading. Thompson beat teammate Battershaw, who beat Tenski. Thompson also beat Rodriguez of Johnson County Central head to head. Rodriguez beat returning qualifier Williams, who beat Tenski. Can’t count out tough freshmen Alberts and Kaup. Harper from Gibbon has been solid this year, but hasn’t wrestled the last few weeks. This one is probably the deepest overall weight in the district, with 9+ wrestlers that could finish top four.

UPDATE: Dorsey moving down makes this a weight to rival 132. Hard to imagine anyone listed below not making the trip to Omaha. Expect to see some movement up to 152 (or down if possible). The 4th spot just comes down to so many people that. Belt beat Alberts from GICC 5-4. Alberts has a win over Thede who could be going 52. Could wrestle this weight 10 times and see a different group make top four each time.

1. #6 Jacson Valentine (David City) 38-10
2. #7 Levi Dorsey (Johnson County Central) 20-3
3. Grady Belt (Shelby-Rising City) 28-10
4. Mason Tenski (Twin River) 29-17

Grant Williams (Doniphan-Trumbull) 19-7
Kobe Thompson (Battle Creek) 31-7
Elijah Harper (Gibbon) 21-8
Ben Alberts (GICC) 25-12
Baylor Kaup (Logan View) 28-14

152:
Finally a weight that at least on paper seems to be pretty easy to isolate the top four. Mullaly has to wins to one loss against returning state medalist Lindsley. All three have been close matches. Lindsley beat Valdivia and Valdivia beat Dorsey. Both Dorsey and Valdivia were match winners in Omaha last year. Dorsey has been out of the lineup recently. Among the contenders, Jones beat Warneke 11-8.

UPDATE: With Dorsey going to 145 it’s almost guaranteed we see some of the 145 guys jump up to 152 to try to grab the 4th spot. Dorsey’s teammate Rodriguez appears to be one of those beneficiaries. A few other new names have emerged here with Thede and Yockey. Thede beat Yockey head to head. Yockey recently beat a very good Nuttleman from Cross County/Osceola so despite not having the best record, it appears as if Thede should make a run at qualifying.

1. #6 Ethan Mullaly (North Bend Central) 36-7
2. #7 Grant Lindsley (Shelby-Rising City) 38-8
3. Roberto Valdivia (Logan View) 42-7
4. Joseph Rodriguez (Johnson County) 17-5

Samuel Thede (St. Paul) 20-20
Chance Yockey (Gibbon) 19-11
Jed Jones (Twin River) 33-21
Kaden Warneke (Battle Creek) 26-19

160:
Dylan Jones has a win by fall of Jaxson Jones in their lone meeting of the season. Both have wins over contender Ty Miller by fall. St. Paul’s Rasmussen dropped from 170 and has a win over Lautenschlager. Lautenschlager beat Miller 4-3. Miller and Rasmussen have common opponents over David City’s Daro. Croghan from Battle Creek doesn’t have a ton of matches this season, but should also factor in at this weight.

UPDATE: Miller beat Daro at state duals. Dylan Jones has avenged one of his two losses and has been steadily climbing the rankings throughout the year.

1. #3 Dylan Jones (Louisville) 35-2
2. #5 Jaxson Jones (Twin River) 28-4
3. #6 Tyson Rasmussen (St. Paul) 25-8
4. Taylor Lautenschlager (Doniphan-Trumbull) 32-12

Ty Miller (Logan View) 33-16
Tre Daro (David City) 31-21
Traven Croghan (Battle Creek) 20-7

170:
This weight is missing the depth that most of the others in the district have. Obviously top ranked Vodicka will be a huge favorite. No meetings between Thompson and Virka this season. Look for Miller or Lautenschlager to potentially end up here. If not, Svobvoda, Wellman, Gehrig and Steinbach appear to be the remaining wrestlers .500 or higher.

UPDATE: Colton Wellman from Johnson County beat previous #4 Svoboda so we’ll move him into that spot. Thompson has a head to head win over Wellman. Steinbach all the way down at 152.

1. #1 Dylan Vodicka (David City) 41-3
2. Kase Thompson (Battle Creek) 27-19
3. Ian Virka (North Bend Central) 23-14
4. Colton Wellman (Johnson County) 21-16

Dylan Svoboda (Lincoln Christian) 21-18
Rocco Gehrig (Twin River) 19-19

182:
Pretty clear top four. Knott has head to head over Horne. Hand has head to head over Allen. Knott had one narrow loss at the beginning of the year that he has avenged by major decision. He appears to be the frontrunner.

UPDATE: Allen picked up a nice win at state duals over ranked Snipes. Snipes did have a win over Knott (Knott has won the last two), so we’ll see if that impacts seeding at all. Still pretty clear who the top four in this district are.

1. #5 Brady Knott (Louisville) 33-1
2. Evan Hand (Scotus) 28-8
3. Spencer Allen (David City) 32-12
4. Colton Horne (Doniphan-Trumbull) 31-9

195:
Logan Booth’s sophomore campaign has been a good one. He has just one loss on the year to B medalist Wilkins. He has a win over Alexander by fall in a match that was tied 4-4 in the third period. Escamilla’s only loss against Class C competition is to #1 Gabriel. It looks like we have three wrestlers challenging for the fourth spot. Ames from Lutheran High Northeast has just two losses on the season to top three ranked D wrestlers by respectable scores. We’ll give him the nod over returning qualifier Torrez. Alexander has beaten Torrez head to head. Escamilla, Booth and Alexander have wins over contender Rathje.

UPDATE: Escamilla beat Booth at state duals by fall, but also lost to Thonen of Conestoga. Booth has beaten Thonen head to head as has Alexander. Booth has that third period win over Alexander though. Look for Escamilla to be top seed now and for him to see the winner of a Booth/Alexander semifinal. Don’t overlook Ames here. He just beat a very good Janke from Wayne, and has a narrow loss to D#2 Pofahl so he’s really right in the mix at 195C.

1. #2 James Escamilla (David City) 27-11
2. #3 Logan Booth (Logan View) 39-3
3. #6 Tucker Alexander (Twin River) 31-15
4. #7 Jazper Ames (Lutheran High NE) 16-2

Luis Torrez (Doniphan-Trumbull) 21-9
Carson Rathje (Shelby-Rising City) 20-14
John Haase (Lincoln Christian) 28-12

220:
Like 182, a clear cut top four has emerged. Scheer’s only losses are at 285 and has won every match at 220 by pin or tech. His win over #6 Johnson of Madison give him common opponent over Cone. Zlomke from Battle Creek picked up a win over Moore of David City, who has been ranked as high as #2 this year. Should expect some closesly contested matches in the semifinals between these guys.

UPDATE: Cone has recently avenged loss to Johnson of Madison and beat Moore 2-1 at the state duals. Again, clear top four that appear to be evenly matched.

1. #4 Nathan Scheer (St. Paul) 21-4
2. #6 Andrew Cone (Logan View) 32-17
3. Dahlas Zlomke (Battle Creek) 35-9
4. Wayne Moore (David City) 30-9

285:
Returning medalist Ingwersen and 2018 qualifier Alex Miller lead the way at this weight. Miller has picked up so good wins recently and has climbed his way up the rankings. Reyes from Johnson County has a win over Jafari of Lincoln Christian. Jafari has a win over Owen from North Bend. Ames from Lutheran High is having a good season, but doesn’t seem to have many common opponents with the rest of the field. He should challenge for a qualifying spot.

UPDATE: Ingwersen beat Miller in overtime so we can expect another tight match in the district finals here. Ames was down at 220 last weekend, but probably has a better shot up here. No changes in the top four.

1. #3 Jake Ingwersen (David City) 33-5
2. #4 Alex Miller (Logan View) 36-9
3. Aldo Reyes (Johnson County) 8-4
4. Shayan Jafari (Lincoln Christian) 24-10

Chantz Ames (Lutheran High NE) 18-11
Jace Owen (North Bend Central) 16-14